Delhi riots case: HC permits trial court to pass order on framing charges

THe new delhi heights margaret court on fri vacated its meanwhile order restraining the trial court from passing a final order on framing charges in the Delhi riots larger conspiracy case.Justice Neena Bansal Krishna vacated the September 2024 interim order, as it dismissed a petition filed by Pinjra Tod activist Devangana Kalita. Kalita sought access to CCTV footage and police WhatsApp group chats that the police relied upon when registering two cases linked to the Delhi riots.“Writ petition dismissed. I can’t continue the stay once the petition has been dismissed,” a bench of Justice Neena Bansal Krishna said while pronouncing the verdict.The same judge, however, allowed Kalita’s plea seeking inspection of the police malkhana, where case property, including electronic records, is stored in connection with the larger Delhi riots conspiracy case.“Writ allowed,” the judge said while pronouncing the verdict.A detailed copy of both verdicts is awaited.Also Read: Delhi HC dismisses petition challenging Ishrat Jahan’s bail in 2020 riots caseThe verdict was pronounced a day after the Delhi Police urged the court to transfer the two petitions filed by Devangana from Justice Krishna’s bench to any other judge for fresh hearing, on the ground that the verdict was reserved on the petition in January, but had not been pronounced even after the Supreme Court’s May 29 ruling.According to the ruling, the court had issued directions to all high courts across the country, mandating that bail applications be decided on the same day or, at the latest, within 24 hours of hearing, while also fixing a three-month outer limit for pronouncement of reserved judgments.To be sure, under the directions, if a reserved judgment is not delivered within three months, the matter must automatically be placed before the Chief Justice of the High Court within two weeks. If the judgment is still not pronounced within the following two weeks, the Chief Justice may reassign the case to another bench for a fresh hearing.He had also said that the High Court’s September 2024 order, in which the court had restrained the trial court from passing a final order on framing charges in connection with the Delhi riots larger conspiracy case, was being used by co-accused and former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Tahir Hussain to seek bail on the ground of delay in trial.Kalita had moved the High Court in 2023 against the city court’s August 5, 2023, order.In that order, the city court refused to supply Kalita with a copy of CCTV footage concerning northeast Delhi and selective extracts of police WhatsApp group chats that investigative officers relied on when registering two criminal cases against her for allegedly instigating the riots and for the murder of a person during the riots.In September 2024, the HC had restrained a city court, hearing a case alleging a larger conspiracy behind the 2020 northeast Delhi riots, from passing a final order on the framing of charges.In 2025, she then moved another petition against the trial court’s December 7, 2024, order, which dismissed her application seeking inspection of the police malkhana (evidence room).Justice Krishna had reserved verdict in both petitions in January this year.Apart from Kalita, student activist Natasha Narwal, Jamia Coordination Committee member Safoora Zargar, Tahir Hussain, and several others are also named as accused in the first information report (FIR) for allegedly being a part of a premeditated conspiracy.